1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a head carriage of a magnetic recording apparatus and in particular to a head carriage for use with flexible recording media such as floppy discs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Floppy disc systems are well known in the art. In floppy disc systems, use is made of a flexible recording medium, so-called floppy disc, for recording information thereon. In modern floppy disc systems, use is made of double-sided discs in which both sides of the discs are used for recording, thereby increasing recording capacity. A head carriage, carrying thereon a magnetic head, which is adapted to a single-sided floppy disc system may not be directly applicable to a double-sided floppy disc system. Thus, it is desirable that the head carriage is comprised of components, a majority of which is commonly applicable to the single-sided and double-sided floppy disc systems. In other words, in view of the fact that there are now single-sided and double-sided floppy disc systems in the market, the preferred structure of the head carriage is such that it requires a minimum number of parts to be replaced when application is changed from one to the other.
In double-sided floppy disc systems, it requires that a pair of magnetic heads be disposed in opposed relationship. Thus, the alignment between the two magnetic heads is critical with respect to the recording track on the floppy disc. In particular, it is common practice to form the head carriage from a resin material for the ease of manufacture. Misalignment between the two magnetic heads may easily result from uneven expansion of the head carriage due to heat.
It is also to be noted that in the single-sided mode, the contact between the magnetic head and the floppy disc is vital in obtaining excellent recording performance. In order that the magnetic head keeps a good contact condition with the floppy disc at all times during operation, there must be provided a pressure pad which lightly pushes the floppy disc against the magnetic head. It is desirable that such pressure pad is capable of keeping a desired contact condition between the magnetic head and the floppy disc.